Karlsruhe (dpa / lsw) - A good month after the water features in Karlsruhe were switched off due to a strong smell of urine and a high level of germs, the city put them back into operation on Monday. Only a comprehensive cleaning in the past week was successful, the city said: The entire system was placed under chlorine and flushed five times with 7,000 cubic meters of clear water. The responsible authorities had been looking for the cause of the contamination for weeks. In the meantime, it was suspected that strangers had intentionally peed in the openings from which the water usually comes.
As the city further reported, two specialist companies had previously been consulted. Among other things, the area of the market square where the water features are located was cleaned several times with a high-pressure cleaner. The cistern and the drainage channels were also thoroughly cleaned. It is still unclear how the extremely high level of faecal germs came about. A check had shown that no sewage is to blame for the stench.
